PARENTS claimed their children were abandoned by a Midland coach firm booked to bring the youngsters home after they performed at a national music festival at Blues’ St Andrew’s ground.

Disgusted mums and dads have claimed that a driver for Thandi Coaches, from Smethwick, waited just 15 minutes for the pupils, aged eight to ten, from Perryfields Primary, in Oldbury.

They say the youngsters had struggled to leave the ground on time as 5,000 other children made their way to the gates after attending SCORE!, organised by Music For Youth.

But a spokesman for Thandi Coaches said the driver had waited 30 minutes and left because he was needed for a school run elsewhere. They said a replacement coach was dispatched.

Diane Harley, whose nine-year-old son Thomas played the recorder at the event, which featured a musical World Cup celebration, said she expected him home by 4.30pm.

But it was almost another two hours before he returned.

The 38-year-old, from Halesowen, said: “I could understand if they were football hooligans but they’re not.

“They were 15 minutes late and there were 5,000 children there at least, nobody else got left behind. You can imagine if there are 5,000 people trying to get out at the same time there are going to be delays.”

The mum-of-four, who works as a home carer, praised Birmingham City Football Club for looking after the children while they waited for a mini bus, and a coach from a different company, to collect them.

Luckily, Thomas is a Blues fan so he enjoyed spending more time at St Andrew’s.

But Diane said another mum told her that her eight-year-old daughter was very upset at the experience.

“She said she was quite quiet on the way home,” said Diane.

“She asked her what the matter was and she said ‘I was worried I wasn’t going to get home mummy’.”

The firm’s spokesman added: “We’re obviously not in the wrong whatsoever.”

Of the 5,000 youngsters taking part from across the UK, 2,130 of them were from Birmingham and the West Midlands.